Month: January 2009

Herb & Nut Roasted Pork Tenderloin w/Bourbon Cream

/ Ren

Served with maple butter glazed sweet potatoes and sautéed haricots verts with shiitake mushrooms..

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Trimmed pork tenderloin dredged in seasoned flour, dipped in egg wash with a little sweet sorghum syrup and cider vinegar then rolled in chopped pecans, walnuts, pistachios, almonds and fresh sage, rosemary and thyme.

Sorghum cooking at Sandhill Farm

Seal tightly, pressing nuts into the pork. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

To cook, unwrap pork and place in a 350 degree oven until internal temperature reaches 150 degrees (mine took about 25 minutes).  Transfer meat to cutting board and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, deglaze the skillet with a little bourbon then add some stock and quickly reduce in volume by half.  Add heavy cream and continue to reduce until thickened, about 5 minutes.  Whisk in a spoonful of coarse mustard and finish with a knob of whole butter.

Arrange sliced pork tenderloin on a platter and dress with the bourbon sauce.

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Slow-cooked Salmon

/ Ren

“Low and slow is the ticket to the most tender, succulent and true-to-flavor food”  –Jaden Hair

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“Fish is the most frequently faked food Americans buy. In the business, it’s called “species adulteration” — selling a cheaper fish such as pen-raised Atlantic salmon as wild Alaska salmon.  When Consumer Reports tested 23 supposedly wild-caught salmon fillets bought nationwide in 2005-2006, only 10 were wild salmon. The rest were farmed.”

Melt-in-your-mouth good, worth using the last of that REAL wild Alaskan sockeye you’ve been saving..

Make a bed of vegetables- I’m using napa cabbage and leeks seasoned with S&P and sesame seeds.  Let some of the vegetables peek out from under the fish so that you get a crunchy/soft textural contrast.

Place skinless salmon on top and season according to taste.  I brined mine for 1/2 hour beforehand to help keep it moist, and then seasoned it with red chilies, black pepper, garlic and onions.  Spritz with a little olive oil and put into a 250 degree oven for 25 minutes (depending on thickness).  Notice how little the salmon’s appearance has changed after slow-cooking!  I’ve garnished with lemon and lavender, but almost any citrus/herb combo would work.

Those are Parisienne potatoes sautéed in rendered duck fat with sage and garlic, by the way.  Worthy of their own post one of these days.

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ +

Spicy Asian Noodle Salad (cold)

/ Ren

This quick, light dish of udon noodles, crunchy Napa cabbage and red chili packs a punch..

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Cook, rinse, drain and chill udon noodles.  Meanwhile, make a dressing of sesame oil, tamari, chili sauce, peanut butter, mint, ginger, garlic, cilantro and spices such as cumin, nutmeg, cinnamon, basil, cardamom and cloves.

Toss noodles with shaved daikon, slivered red bell pepper, scallions and cabbage (all raw).  Dress with the tamari mixture and serve chilled.

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Gravlax

/ Ren

Gravlax is a Scandinavian dish consisting of raw salmon cured in salt, sugar, and dill.

During the Middle Ages, gravlax was made by fishermen who salted the salmon and lightly fermented it by burying it in the sand above the high-tide line. The word gravlax comes from the Scandinavian word grav, which means literally “grave” or “hole in the ground”, and lax (or laks), which means “salmon”, thus gravlax is “salmon dug into the ground”.

If smoked salmon is more to your liking, we cover that here.

Make a mixture of sea salt, non-refined sugar, dill and pepper (optional).  I use a salt to sugar ratio of about 3:1, but you can adjust this to your taste (don’t worry, there will be very little salt or sugar in the finished product).

Thoroughly pack salmon filets with the salt mixture and either bury it in the salt bowl or double bag it as I have done here. Refrigerate for at least 2 days, checking occasionally to see if additional salt mixture is needed.

Once cured, rinse the salmon in lots of cold fresh water, pat dry and slice very thin.  Serve as an appetizer garnished with crème fraîche and caviar, or in scrambled eggs.

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Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Mom’s Pumpkin Cookies

/ Ren

“I sent pictures of some cookies I made today for a cookie exchange.  I know the ingredients aren’t the ‘good’ stuff but due to budget constraints, I have to use what’s in the cupboard before getting the other.  Anyway, the cookies are okay.  Not as much pumpkin flavor as I would have liked but I added some pumpkin pie spice to the last batch and that helped.”

Way to go, Mom!